Ahh silly me. I am zone 6b. And thanks for taking the time to tell me about the hardy kiwi, but I already have them.

{{gwi:56232}}

I currently have a male on the middle post. And two females, centered in the open area of the trellis. However, I like to mix things up, and the one kiwi under the tree I was thinking about moving elsewhere and putting another fruiting vine in its place. Its very small so i think it will be fine moving in the fall. So do you think muscadines would work for me? Or are there any other fruiting vines that would be neat to try?

Thanks

I'm not sure about grapes, but Akebia will grow in part shade and has edible fruits and fragrant flowers. You need two varieties for cross pollination and the fruits are better for juicing than eating because of all the seeds - or so I've heard, mine haven't gotten old enough to fruit yet.

What kinds of Hardy Kiwis do you have? I have a Hardy Red and an Issai, as well as a male to ensure pollination.

Also, if you're more interested in the look than the fruit, there lots of grape-like fruits that are attractive but not edible and I'm sure some of them will grow in shade, Mahonia for instance.

Hmmp. Never heard of Akebia until now, but I checked it out, sounds neat and tropical which I like. Problem is Im more interested in fruit I can eat out of hand.

The Kiwi's I have: a male arguta, and two jumbo arguta females.
Ive been having some trouble with them though. I had swapped the male and a female in location at a bad time of the year. So now they dont look to good as they are probably still trying to repair their root structure. If you didn't notice, my trellis isn't exactly the type kiwi should be on. So my one female that I did not move, which was doing great, I started pruning and training it. But now with the little pruning and bending I did, it just kinda stopped growing. Oh well. Ill see how it does the rest of summer and next spring, but I may end up replacing. Or like I said, get a different fruit vine

Well, you sure do have a neat, mowed, trimmed, level, square, proportional way of keeping your property. Muscadines can grow in a whole lot less in the way of accommodations. They could probably feel right at home in the bushy opossum habitat that borders the showcase area. Have you eaten many muscadines before? If you like that kind of hardy fruit bearing plant, then they sure do aim to please. I have bronze, self- fruitful Granny Val and Florida Fry vines producing well enough in a shady area. The fruit are not as big as those in full sun, but I'm OK with that. The bronze fruit are also harder to spot by hungry crows that are flying by. I saw 3 crows jointly devouring a lot of black grapes and not bothering the bronze ones right beside that vine. They were there for 2 days in a row. I had no scarecrow, whether stuffed or the waterspray type. They did not come back for the bronze. Soooo, why not plant them in the opossum habitat area also? No critters to rid/raid......then, I would plant a lot of the Ison black vines whose 'purple grape' taste is enjoyable.

Thank you for that. And wow I never thought of just planting them back in the tree row. Interesting. I may just have to give that a try. So you think I should do the Ison black vines on my trellis? And I understand the Ison vine is self fertile, but would it be better to have a pollinator on top of that? Or would the ison be pollinating the bronze ones in the tree row?

Thanks

semaje, what is partial shade? I have grapes which get sun until 2PM and they are fine. They would produce more in full sun but they do well enough for me. I would say 6 hours of good sun makes it worthwhile, but if less then don't bother. I grew some muscadines in an area with sun until about noon and they never fruited so I got rid of them and put currants there.

Scott

Yeah I probably shoudlve been more specific Scott. Id say about 6-7 hours is what they would get.

James

and would Isons variety do alright in my zone?